Steelers News

Rivalry Still Hot: Former Ravens Teammate Has Harsh Words for New Steelers LB

Alan Saunders   |  

Updated: Mar 16, 2025

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New Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Malik Harrison, the latest player to swap sides in the intense rivalry between the Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens, is already hearing about it from his former teammates.

After Harrison signed with the Steelers on a two-year contract in free agency last week, outspoken Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey had some choice words for Harrison via social media.

“It’s 31 other teams and you pick the yellow team,” Humphrey wrote on X. “@Leek_39 honestly screw you.”

Harrison said he’s looking forward to seeing what the rivalry is like from the other side of the Mason-Dixon Line.

“I think that the competitiveness (is what makes it special),” Harrison said. “Being on the other side during that week is just different, and I feel like over here is going to be even more different just because I don’t know what it is, but I’m pretty sure it’s just like the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry.”

The teams generally have not had a lot of cross-pollination since the Ravens entered the league in 1996, but that has changed a lot recently. 

In 2024, the Steelers All-Pro linebacker Patrick Queen directly from the Ravens, giving him the biggest free-agent contract in team history to lure him out of Maryland. The Steelers also signed former Ravens safety DeShon Elliott last season and claimed outside linebacker Jeremiah Moon from Baltimore last January.

Queen, in particular, caught a lot of flack from Ravens partisans and his former teammates in Baltimore for making the switch to the Black and Gold.

“Every once in a while, you get a Judas,” former Ravens linebacker Bart Scott said in 2024. “And the Judas is Patrick Queen. He went over to the dark side. He’s going to learn. He’s gonna mess around and find out.”

Of course, the Ravens had former Steelers wide receivers Diontae Johnson, Anthony Miller and Steven Sims, cornerbacks Arthur Maulet and Desmond King, and defensive tackle Chris Wormley on their squad in 2024.

Wormley started with the Ravens, then played for the Steelers from 2020-22. Miles Boykin played for the Steelers in 2023. The Ravens featured Alejandro Villanueva and Le’Veon Bell in 2021 and L.J. Fort from 2019-20. John Simon played for the Steelers in 2021 after previously playing in Baltimore.

In total, 30 players have played games on both sides of the Rivalry. Nine of those 30 were active for one team or the other in 2024. Fourteen of the 30 have been active since 2020, with the Steelers and Ravens doubling the number of both-teams players over the last five years of the rivalry compared to the first 23.

The rivalry has long been noted as one of the most intense in the NFL. Will it continue to be with so many players now changing sides? That remains to be seen.

PLAYERS TO PLAY FOR THE STEELERS AND RAVENS